Football
Kelvin Leong 9y

Warriors FC fail to close gap on S.League leaders Brunei DPMM FC

Warriors FC's title aspirations were dealt a cruel blow on Tuesday night when visitors Balestier Khalsa came away with a 1-0 victory at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium to leave the home team wondering what could have been.

With a potential title decider away to DPMM FC in Brunei on Tuesday on the horizon, Warriors FC went into the match against Balestier knowing that victory would see them close the gap to two points. It would have set up a tantalizing affair in Bandar Seri Begawan next week, but Warriors were made to pay for their profligacy, with 18-goal striker Nicholas Velez misfiring on the night.

Riding high on confidence having sealed their spot in the RHB Singapore Cup final a week ago, Marko Kraljevic's men matched the Warriors stride for stride with Ridwan Jamil and South Korean playmaker Park Kang Jin pulling the strings in midfield.

The Tigers left it until the 84th minute when Warriors left-back Zulfadli Zainal handled Kim Minho's incoming cross to leave referee Muhd Taqi with no choice but to award a penalty kick, which Goran Ljubojevic duly converted.

Warriors coach Alex Weaver knows his side wasted an opportunity to put more pressure on DPMM FC but refused to concede defeat and wants his team to get the job done in Brunei next week.

He told sleague.com, "We had a fortunate situation where Brunei slipped up so we are still in it. We go to Brunei now and really have to win that game. We are capable of doing that. The players are even more hungry now, this shows the characters we have in the dressing room. We will bounce back for sure,"

Over at the Jalan Besar Stadium, the Causeway rivalry was evident once again, with the Courts Young Lions playing hosts to Harimau Muda B. In a game that saw few chances, the Malaysian side produced a 90th-minute winner from Shahrul Igwan off a Nushamil Abdul Ghani cross down the flank.

Aide iskandar's men started the match on the front foot with their style of possession football, coupled with a high pressing midfield. But they were left to rue a glaring opportunity in the 13th minute when Canadian forward Jordan Webb shot straight at Harimau goalkeeper Ilham Amirullah.

With a large number of Young Lions players involved in the football tournament at the Asian Games in Korea Republic, the Singaporean outfit began tiring in the second half. Captain Al-Qaasimy Rahman and Anumanthan Kumar began to show visible signs of fatigue as the game wore on.

Speaking to sleague.com after the match, Iskandar refused to use fatigue as an excuse but simply wanted Young Lions to regroup and look forward to their next match.

"To be fair, the players were feeling the effects of fatigue coming back from the Asian Games -- that's why the Harimau Muda team looked fresher," he said. "But I think that's not an excuse. You are going to play games, week in and week out, even after coming back from tournaments. You have to continue, you have to re-focus,"

The Young Lions will visit Tanjong Pagar United FC on Saturday, while Warriors FC will be desperately seeking an away win in Bandar Seri Begawan over league leaders DPMM FC on Tuesday to keep their fading title hopes alive.

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